Frank curtin



(-No Model.)

F. GURTIN. TRIMMING ATTACHMENT FOR SEWING MACHINES.

No. 595,374. Patented Dec. 14,1897.

WITNESSES I 22 INVENTQR 1 [a g a ATTORN EYS UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE FRANK OUBTIN, OF GLOVERSVILLE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO JAMES L. NORTI-IRUP, OF SAME PLACE.

TRIMMING ATTACHMEN T FORSEWlNG-MACHINESF SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 595,374, dated December 14, 1897. Application fil d .Tune15,189'7. sum No. 640,813. (No model.)

To ail whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK CURTIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Gloversville, in the county of Fulton and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trimming Attachments for Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to trimming or cutting attachments for sewing-machines; and it consists of certain novel parts and combinations of parts particularly pointed out in the claims concluding this specification.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown a trimmer involving my present invention in the form which is at present preferred by me; but it will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made with out departing from the spirit of my invention and without exceeding the scope of the concluding claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top view, parts being omitted for clearness of illustration. Fig. 2 is a front view, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a side View. Figs. 4 and 5 are views of detailed parts. Similar reference-numerals indicate the same or corresponding parts in the several figures of drawings.

The following is a description of the structure shown in the drawings.

6 6 is the table-plate of a sewing-machine, which is fitted with the throat or needle plate 29 and slide 25.

9 is a driving-shaft of the machine.

10 is an eccentric carried thereby.

11 is a rod pivoted on a support 12, attached to plate 29, which rod terminates in a forked end or strap. 13, engaging with said eccentric to give a rocking motion to the rod 11. Any other suitable means might be employed to rockthis rod. The rod 11 carries a pivoted arm 14, provided with a knife 19, operating in conjunction with shearing edge 33 to cut the goods.

8 is a sleeve surrounding rod 11, provided with a projection 16 and set-screw 18 for holding the projection in the position in which it is set. The arm 14 carries a flat spring 17, bearing against said projection.

is therefore held'up against the shearing edge by pressure adjustable in amount and yield- The knife ing at each descent of the knife to compensate for the overlap of the cuttingedges.

31 is a projection on the knife always in engagement with the shearing edge, limiting the movement of the knife under the infiuence of spring 17.

21 is the p'resser-foot, 22 the needle, 23the needle-bar, and 24 the feeding mechanism, of an ordinary sewing-machine.

24 is a shutter attached to the slide 25.

26 is a button attached to a spring 27 on the under side of slide 25, which spring at its forward end carries a projection 28, fitting in a to hold the slide in the desired position.

The shutter 24 is preferably made of spring material and rigidly attached to the slide at its rear end, or it might be attached to the bed of the machine, and it might be hinged and controlled by spring-pressure. The forward end of this shutter is in the path of the knife 19 and is depressed by the knife every time it descends. The guide projection 31 on the knife enters a perforation 32 in this shutter. The cutting edge of the knife is inclined with reference to the shearing edge on the base-plate, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The descent of the cutter, oscillating, as it does, in the arc of a circle about a pivot located below the shearing edge, gives rise to a forward movement of the knife on the shearing edge as it descends, which materially aids the cutting action and diminishes the liability of clogging. This is diagrammatically illustrated in Fig. 4:, where the dotted line a a denotes the path traveled by a given point on the cutting edge as it descends and illustrates how the knife slides forward and backward as it vibrates up and down. The rear edge of the knife as it descends comin gin contact with the shutter carries the shutter down with it; but as the extent of this motion does not equal the thickness of theshearing-piece at no time during its operation is an opening left through which fibers or other foreign matter can gain access to the working parts of the machine beneath the table-plate. The shearing edge 33, attached to the throat or needle-hole plate 29, is made removable, as is also the knife. A means is thereby afford ed of trimming the goods nearer or farther from the line of stitching by substituting depression in the plate 29 and forming a latch knives and shearing-blocks of corresponding and suitable thickness.

3-l is a stationary V-shaped guide, one leg for the goods being sewed and the other for the material trimmed off.

The device above described may be readily applied, with such modifications as Will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art, to existing machines, all the parts, excepting the cam or other operating mechanism, being attached to the removable plates 25 and 29.

In the foregoing specification I have incidentally referred to some of the modifications which might be adopted in the practice of my invention, but I have not endeavored to specify all the modifications which might be employed, the object of this specification being to instruct persons skilled in the art to practice myinvention in the form at present preferred by me and to enable them to understand its nature, and I desire it to be distinctly understood that mention by me of a few modifications is in no way intended to exclude others not referred to, but which are within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Many of the details and combinations illustrated and above described are not essential to the several inventions, broadlyeonsidered. All this will be indicated in the concluding claims, Where the omission of an element or the omission of reference to the detail features of the elements mentioned is intended to be a formal declaration of the fact that the omitted elements or features are not essential to the inventions therein severally covered.

What I claim is- 1. The combination, in a sewing-machine, of a knife, a shearing edge and a shutter constructed and arranged to vibrate with the ascent and descent of the knife in a plane at right angles to the plane in which the knife oscillates.

2. The combination, in a sewing-machine, of a shearing edge, a knife and a shutter constructed and arranged to vibrate with the ascent and descent of the knife in a plane at right angles to the plane in which the knife oscillates, the depth of the shearing edge bein g as great as the extent of the vibrating motion of said shutter.

3. In a sewing-machine, the combination of a knife and a shearing edge, said knife being supported on a pivot in a plane parallel with the plane in which the knife oscillates and a spring by means of which it is constantly pressed toward said shearing edge.

4. The combination, in a sewing-machine, of a knife, a shearing edge, said knife being supported on a pivot in a plane parallel with the plane in which the knife oscillates, an adj ustable projection carried on said pivot and a spring abutting against said projection for pressing the knife toward the shearing edge.

5. In a sewing-machine, the combination of a shearing edge, a knife, a pivot about which said knife oscillates in the plane of the shearing edge to cut the goods and a pivot at right angles thereto about which it oscillates to and from the shearing edge laterally.

Signed at Gloversville, in the county of Fulton and State of New York, this 4th day of June, A. D. 1897.

FRANK CURTIN.

Witnesses:

CHAS. L. SMITH, V. B. MCLAREN. 

